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- FL: Violation of knock-and-announce statute doesn’t require exclusion
- TX3: DUI blood draw while in restraint chair not 4A unreasonable
- TX1: Def has a duty to make his record on PC and the SW; missing affidavit was on him
- N.D.Ala.: SW not invalid because issuing judge previously represented the target
- The Guardian: ‘We should be worried’: report sheds light on ICE’s booming arsenal of hi-tech surveillance tools
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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2015-17) (then discontinued)
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by John Wesley Hall
Criminal Defense Lawyer and
Search and seizure law consultant
Little Rock, Arkansas
Contact: forhall @ aol.com
Search and Seizure (6th ed. 2025)
www.johnwesleyhall.com -
© 2003-26,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 600,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 50,000 posts since 2003 (29,000 on WordPress as of 12/31/25) -
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Fourth Amendment cases, citations, and links -
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Congressional Research Service:
--Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
--Overview of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
--Outline of Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping (2012)
--Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping (2012)
--Federal Laws Relating to Cybersecurity: Discussion of Proposed Revisions (2012)
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"If it was easy, everybody would be doing it. It isn't, and they don't."
—Me -
"Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well."
–Josh Billings (pseudonym of Henry Wheeler Shaw), Josh Billings on Ice, and Other Things (1868) (erroneously attributed to Robert Louis Stevenson, among others) -
“I am still learning.”
—Domenico Giuntalodi (but misattributed to Michelangelo Buonarroti (common phrase throughout 1500's)). -
"Love work; hate mastery over others; and avoid intimacy with the government."
—Shemaya, in the Thalmud -
"It is a pleasant world we live in, sir, a very pleasant world. There are bad people in it, Mr. Richard, but if there were no bad people, there would be no good lawyers."
—Charles Dickens, “The Old Curiosity Shop ... With a Frontispiece. From a Painting by Geo. Cattermole, Etc.” 255 (1848) -
"A system of law that not only makes certain conduct criminal, but also lays down rules for the conduct of the authorities, often becomes complex in its application to individual cases, and will from time to time produce imperfect results, especially if one's attention is confined to the particular case at bar. Some criminals do go free because of the necessity of keeping government and its servants in their place. That is one of the costs of having and enforcing a Bill of Rights. This country is built on the assumption that the cost is worth paying, and that in the long run we are all both freer and safer if the Constitution is strictly enforced."
—Williams v. Nix, 700 F. 2d 1164, 1173 (8th Cir. 1983) (Richard Sheppard Arnold, J.), rev'd Nix v. Williams, 467 US. 431 (1984). -
"The criminal goes free, if he must, but it is the law that sets him free. Nothing can destroy a government more quickly than its failure to observe its own laws, or worse, its disregard of the charter of its own existence."
—Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 659 (1961). -
"Any costs the exclusionary rule are costs imposed directly by the Fourth Amendment."
—Yale Kamisar, 86 Mich.L.Rev. 1, 36 n. 151 (1987). -
"There have been powerful hydraulic pressures throughout our history that bear heavily on the Court to water down constitutional guarantees and give the police the upper hand. That hydraulic pressure has probably never been greater than it is today."
— Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 39 (1968) (Douglas, J., dissenting). -
"The great end, for which men entered into society, was to secure their property."
—Entick v. Carrington, 19 How.St.Tr. 1029, 1066, 95 Eng. Rep. 807 (C.P. 1765) -
"It is a fair summary of history to say that the safeguards of liberty have frequently been forged in controversies involving not very nice people. And so, while we are concerned here with a shabby defrauder, we must deal with his case in the context of what are really the great themes expressed by the Fourth Amendment."
—United States v. Rabinowitz, 339 U.S. 56, 69 (1950) (Frankfurter, J., dissenting) -
"The course of true law pertaining to searches and seizures, as enunciated here, has not–to put it mildly–run smooth."
—Chapman v. United States, 365 U.S. 610, 618 (1961) (Frankfurter, J., concurring). -
"A search is a search, even if it happens to disclose nothing but the bottom of a turntable."
—Arizona v. Hicks, 480 U.S. 321, 325 (1987) -
"For the Fourth Amendment protects people, not places. What a person knowingly exposes to the public, even in his own home or office, is not a subject of Fourth Amendment protection. ... But what he seeks to preserve as private, even in an area accessible to the public, may be constitutionally protected."
—Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 351 (1967) -
“Experience should teach us to be most on guard to protect liberty when the Government’s purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded
rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.”
—United States v. Olmstead, 277 U.S. 438, 479 (1925) (Brandeis, J., dissenting)
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“Liberty—the freedom from unwarranted intrusion by government—is as easily lost through insistent nibbles by government officials who seek to do their jobs too well as by those whose purpose it is to oppress; the piranha can be as deadly as the shark.”
—United States v. $124,570, 873 F.2d 1240, 1246 (9th Cir. 1989) -
"You can't always get what you want / But if you try sometimes / You just might find / You get what you need."
—Mick Jagger & Keith Richards, Let it Bleed (album, 1969) -
"In Germany, they first came for the communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for
the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Catholic. Then they came
for me–and by that time there was nobody left to speak up."
—Martin Niemöller (1945) [he served seven years in a concentration camp] -
“Children grow up thinking the adult world is ordered, rational, fit for purpose. It’s crap. Becoming a man is realising that it’s all rotten. Realising how to celebrate that rottenness, that’s freedom.”
– John le Carré, The Night Manager (1993), line by Richard Roper -
"The point of the Fourth Amendment, which often is not grasped by zealous officers, is not that it denies law enforcement the support of the usual inferences which reasonable men draw from evidence. Its protection consists in requiring that those inferences be drawn by a neutral and detached magistrate instead of being judged by the officer engaged in the often competitive enterprise of ferreting out crime."
—Johnson v. United States, 333 U.S. 10, 13-14 (1948) -
The book was dedicated in the first (1982) and sixth (2025) editions to Justin William Hall (1975-2025). He was three when this project started in 1978.
Website design by Wally Waller, Colorado Springs. 
Category Archives: Plain view, feel, smell
E.D.Mo.: Flight is part of the RS calculus
Defendant fled from a police stop, and he wasn’t seized until the police laid hands on him. The hunch he was carrying a gun was correct. “First, as Officer Nash was attempting to exit his marked police car to engage … Continue reading
E.D.Wis.: Citing forfeiture seizure statute in SW application and warrant doesn’t require forfeiture, too
The government sought a search warrant under Rule 41 and also cited the forfeiture seizure statute, 18 U.S.C. § 983. Failure to seek forfeiture doesn’t void the search. United States v. Palma, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 137870 (E.D.Wis. May 27, … Continue reading
DC: Petr’s debit card records are basic third-party records under Miller and aren’t protected under Carpenter
Debit card financial records are basic third party records, like the bank records in Miller, and Carpenter offers no protection to the petitioner despite his claim of privacy interest in the information. And, if it did, the good faith exception … Continue reading
D.P.R.: Passing reference to a 4A violation in motion to suppress doesn’t preserve it
Passing reference to a Fourth Amendment violation isn’t enough to preserve the issue. United States v. Polaco-Hance, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 132937 (D.P.R. July 16, 2021). There was probable cause for the search of defendant’s car under the warrant. A … Continue reading
W.D.Wash.: Def’s arrest away from the place of search was justified by PC
There was probable cause for defendant’s arrest away from the place of execution of the search warrant (Summers and Bailey). United States v. Pelayo, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 126671 (W.D. Wash. July 7, 2021). When defendant opened his door, the … Continue reading
CA7: When false arrest is the claim, ptf’s bond conditions are not separate seizures for SoL purposes
Plaintiff’s false evidence claim arises from the arrest or release from detention, and here it is time barred. His release on detention was not a separate Fourth Amendment seizure. Smith v. City of Chi., 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 19136 (7th … Continue reading
S.D.Ill.: Claim of smell of marijuana from edibles in sealed container not credible
Court finds the officers lacked credibility on the claim they could smell marijuana from fruit flavored edibles in sealed packages. United States v. Clark, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 115872 (S.D. Ill. June 22, 2021):
OK: Smell of burnt marijuana in car is still PC in MMJ state
The smell of burnt marijuana in defendant’s car was still probable cause, despite it being in a medical marijuana state. State v. Roberson, 2021 OK CR 16, 2021 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 16 (June 17, 2021):
MD: Tracking “court order” didn’t need to be called a “warrant” to be one
A “court order” for tracking defendant’s vehicle satisfied the warrant requirement, and it didn’t have to be called a search warrant. It was issued with probable cause, and the good faith exception applied. Whittington v. State, 2021 Md. LEXIS 255 … Continue reading
IN: Plain view applied to vehicle seizure in driveway
Plain view justified the seizure of defendant’s van in his driveway, even assuming it was on the curtilage. It was immediately apparent to the officers it was criminal evidence. Combs v. State, 2021 Ind. LEXIS 358 (June 3. 2021). n.5:
LA5: Use of a flashlight on a car is still a plain view
Using a flashlight to look in a car was still a valid plain view. State v. Williams, 2021 La. App. LEXIS 767 (La. App. 5 Cir. May 13, 2021). Where the alleged OWI offender was incapacitated, Mitchell applies to his … Continue reading
CA8: A mere hunch possession of something might be criminal was not “immediately apparent” for plain view
Alleged plain view of glass vials on defendant’s couch wasn’t a legitimate plain view because the alleged incriminating nature of the objects wasn’t immediately apparent. It was maybe a hunch and not obvious at all. Grant of suppression motion affirmed. … Continue reading
E.D.Wis.: Def’s clothes in ER as a shooting victim were in plain view for police seizure
Defendant was in an emergency room having been shot. Having presented himself for medical treatment, his bloody clothes were cut off him, and they were reasonably seized by law enforcement officers when they were seen in plain view in white … Continue reading
IL: For “immediately apparent” in plain view, only “practical, nontechnical” probability that incriminating evidence is involved is required
On the incriminating nature of an object in plain view being “immediately apparent,” “[a]ll that is required is a ‘“practical, nontechnical”’ probability that incriminating evidence is involved.” People v. Molnar, 2021 IL App (2d) 190289, 2021 Ill. App. LEXIS 192 … Continue reading
E.D.Mo.: Mistaken identity stop was reasonable and led to plain view
The mistaken identity stop of defendant was reasonable on the totality, and, when a blunt fell to the ground, there was probable cause to go further. United States v. Smith, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 71223 (E.D. Mo. Mar. 26, 2021). … Continue reading
D.N.M.: A vehicle could be stopped just because there was a warrant on the passenger
A vehicle could be stopped just because there was a warrant on the passenger. Here, ICE made the stop, and it was reasonably related to its justification. United States v. Murillo-Gonzalez, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 38494 (D. N.M. Mar. 1, … Continue reading
M.D.Pa.: Tent in an open field might have had REP, but it was open to view inside and plain view applied
Assuming defendant’s tent in an “open field” area had a reasonable expectation of privacy (as the Ninth Circuit would hold), the tent was open and the officer could see in. There was no curtilage to the tent in an open … Continue reading
PA: With MMJ, smell of MJ alone isn’t PC for search of a car; more required
Because of medical marijuana being law in Pennsylvania, the smell of marijuana in a car alone is no longer enough for probable cause. More is required. Commonwealth v. Grooms, 2021 Pa. Super. LEXIS 79 (Feb. 24, 2021):
GA: Contraband in plain view on def’s property didn’t justify warrantless entry to seize it
Officers’ entry onto abandoned property next door to defendant’s place to get a better view of his place was reasonable. He had no reasonable expectation of privacy there or in the view from there. However, they saw contraband in plain … Continue reading
TX14: No REP in a driveway def pulled into apparently hoping to ditch following police
Defendant’s red Ford Expedition was seen leaving an armed robbery, and the police were looking for it, finding it driving on the street. They followed, and it pulled into a driveway. Defendant shows no reasonable expectation of privacy in the … Continue reading